FFoM: Episode Zero
by Antipode
Summary: .NEORDX. The beginning of everything...
1. 01 of 02: Impetus

E0-Impetus.doc  
Episode Zero  
Part 01 of 02: Impetus  
Started: 20050521 / 0000CST  
Finished: 20050522 / 1413CST

**Episode Zero **

_Part 01 of 02: _

Impetus

Written by Adam Czech

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, based on the worlds of Sonic the Hedgehog, originally created by Service Games, DiC Productions, Archie Publications, Egmont Fleetway Publications, and various lesser sources. This work is not to be sold, and is not intended for monetary profit. This document is not to be modified, or redistributed in any way without the author's consent.

The original material and characters in this story that do not draw from any other source, including information about the world based on Adam Czech's "Sonic the Hedgehog: Neo Redux," are copyright to Adam Czech (Antipode), and may only be used with his expressed consent.

This story is (c) 2005 the author.

* * *

W...H...A...T...A...M...I...? 

?...I...M...A...O...H...W

P U R P O S E IN L I F E  
W H A T IS MY ?

_One at a time, if you don't mind?_

...What am I?

_That depends on your point of view. Outwardly, I'm perfectly normal, at least for the frame of time in which I now find myself. More than perfectly normal, in fact, just plain _perfect_. A prime specimen of a hedgehog. Inwardly... no. On second thought, let's stick with the outward._

...Who am I?

_Sigh, again with the personal point of view. She called me "Opacus," so by all accounts that is my name. I have been called many things in my lifetime, however. "Beast." "Saviour." "Freak." "Hero." None of which I care for. I'll go with my previous statement and refer myself "perfection."_

...What is my purpose in life?

_As far as I can tell, my objective is to be the perfection I was created for. The time of my creation is long since passed, but still I have much to prove. People must be persuaded to my role as the perfected evolution of their species. If that means the destruction of the unbelievers, so be it. There must be no doubt that my power is that of the greatest being on this, or any other, planet._

_

* * *

_

It was nearly midnight. All the other researchers had gone home for the night, long ago. He was always the last to leave, it seemed. "Burning the midnight oil," he would constantly quip as he waved farewell to his colleagues at the end of the day. He would not abandon his work until he was nearly too tired to drive back home. It did not matter that any of the other scientists never considered his work to be as important as that; _he_ considered his work that important, and so it was.

Gerald Robotnik pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his avian nose as he peered through the lenses at his computer screen. His mind worked frantically at the problem in front of him, a problem that he had been working at for the past couple hours. Even when he felt getting closer, the solution was still so far away.

He worked at a place called the Associated Researchers Coalition, in Paris, France. Gerald was the top researcher in Laboratory 52, of the Central European Think Tank. His field was genetics, and his task was the prevention of the death of mankind.

Gerald himself had discovered the threat, nearly five years ago. It was a molecular disease, a virus, contracted from birth and eventually fatal. The plague ate away all feeling in a person's body, beginning with the lower extremities, then the upper, eventually working its way to the heart and brain. In the past year alone, fourty-two cases. And by his estimations, increasing exponentially.

Everyone at ARC was working toward something that would benefit mankind. Gerald Robotnik was ensuring mankind would be around long enough to make use of those things.

* * *

"And here we are again, are we?" She spoke with that prissy British accent that drove me absolutely nuts. 

"So it seems."

"You always seem to be checking up on me. Being that 'responsible big brother' type?"

I knew a leer when I heard one. "Even with that screwed-up memory of yours you should know what I'm here to prove."

"Yes, yes, 'ultimate life form' and all that nonsense. I've heard it before, I've heard it a thousand times."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I really have no choice."

"Oh, save it for someone who cares. 'Ultimate life form,' my ass..."

"You're the only person who's never been afraid at my powers... Why?"

She laughed. Condescendingly. "Because. I know they don't mean jack."

* * *

She welcomes me into bed with waiting arms. Outside of the lab, and all of the Master's experiments, she is my world. How this sweet little blonde-haired, fourteen-year-old girl can make my life worth living, I do not know. She wraps her arms around me and holds me close to her, and I feel all at once safe and secure. She whispers gently in my ear, and I smile and purr for her. It never occurs to me to ask "why." This is the one and only place, in my entire life, where questions do not need to be asked.

* * *

...questions do not need to be asked... 

Do questions ever need to be asked at all?

What makes a line of thought worth forming into a question?

Do questions feel left out when they're not asked?

If a question is not asked, does it ever become a question at all?

What's with all these damned questions?

Why all the questions _about _questions?

Whoever invented questions anyway?

* * *

Gerald Robotnik came home around two o'clock in the morning, took his medications, and went upstairs. The door to the bedroom across the hall from his own was wide open, and he let himself inside. A street lamp from outside shone gently through the large picture window on the far wall, illuminating his way just enough. The familiar shape in the bed by that same window moved slightly with soft breathing. His granddaughter. The reason for his quest. 

The live-in caretaker had fallen asleep in a chair by the bedside. Gerald shook her gently and coaxed her to her own bed, just down the hall. He then took up the vacated position in the chair and took a moment to watch the sleeping girl. And all at once, his strain and weariness seemed worth it again.

* * *

"How can you say that? Those energies are what's kept you alive all this time." 

"And where the hell has _that_ gotten me?" she demanded. "So I'm 'imbued with the powers of Chaos,' whooo, big bloody whoop. That only means an even longer lifetime of misery and suffering."

"You don't understand... the power, the raw power at our fingertips..."

"Sometimes I wonder why you saved me in the first place. Was it really to be your personal punching bag for all of eternity? If so, thank you _so_ much. Really appreciate it."

"You should be thanking me for giving you the opportunity to taste such strength!"

"Oh, yeah, sure, right. Thanks a million, Master of Time and Space."

* * *

"Opacus..." 

I stir. She's whispering in my ear again.

"Opacus..."

I smile and nuzzle her cheek. She smiles back and quiets in her sleep again.

I take a moment to look around her darkened bedroom. The shadows look calm and inviting, but not more so than the warmth and comfort of the blankets. I close my eyes. I can feel her quiet breaths through my fur.

* * *

Love... 

Is that what love is? Is that why you're showing me this?

Damn, there come the questions again...

You showed me love for a reason, right? Double damn.

You showed me love for a reason, _I presume_. You wouldn't have taught me the concept unless it was something I was sure to experience at least once in my life.

If so...

I'm pretty sure that's what this feeling is. When I'm with her...

..."love"...

Hmm...

Yes.

That sounds about right.

"Love."

* * *

Gerald was back at work early the next morning, thanks to an hot, fresh, thermos of coffee. Strangely enough, he was not the first one into the lab. 

"_Guten tag, fruend Gerald!_"

It took him a moment to realise who was speaking, then he laughed. "_Und guten tag zu ihnen, freund Charles._ What on Earth brings you here so early?"

Doctor Charles Thorndyke approached with his hands in the pockets of his white lab coat. "Felt the need for a head start today," he replied, switching back to French, which was enforced as the standard language while inside the lab. He didn't speak it as well as his native English. Hell, he didn't speak it as well as Gerald's native German. But, when in Rome...

"Ach. Never enough hours in the day," Gerald mused idly, heading over to his workbench.

"I couldn't agree more," he chuckled, coming over to Gerald's desk to make small talk. "How is Maria?"

Gerald pushed his glasses up his nose, steeling himself and formulating a reply. "Stable."

Charles nodded understandingly. "I continue to pray for her, my friend," he put a hand on the other's shoulder. "I know somehow God will pull her through."

Gerald scoffed inwardly and changed the subject. "And how is your baby, Charles?"

The younger man smiled. "She is well. Growing fast. We should be able to do a rocket test on her this coming week."

Gerald raised his eyebrows. "Surely? You must let me see her."

"Right this way."

Charles took Gerald to his own desk on the other side of the lab. Sitting there, amidst piles of spare parts and hardware schematics, was a thick steel frame, just over six feet long. Metal plating covered a good percentage of its outer hull. Barely visible inside were various components and circuitry and wires that Gerald couldn't guess the purpose of; electronics was not his specialty.

"Truly astonishing, Charles. How close is it to completion?"

He put his hands in his pockets again. "If I keep coming in early, I should have the prototype complete by Friday."

"_Wunderbar_..."

"And what of _your_ project, Gerald?"

Now it was Gerald's turn to smile. "It progresses, but slowly. Some days I close my eyes and see nothing but numbers and formulae, I think of the problems so much."

Charles nodded. "I know the feeling. You ever need a fresh perspective, you know where to find me."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

* * *

She pets me constantly, though my back is covered in thick spines. But she's careful, and knows just the right way to do it to make it feel wonderful. I sometimes wake in the middle of the night to find her tiny hand constantly moving along my head and back. I purr. 

When the sun rises she wakes and cuddles me, talking to me gently about her life with her grandfather. I don't understand some of the words, but it doesn't matter. Just being with her is enough.

People come to see her. There is one woman that she tells me is her caretaker, that comes in many times during a day. She doesn't like me much, I can tell. She gives me looks. Other times a man comes, to instruct her in new ways to speak, it seems. The first time he came she spoke to him about me; I recognised my name. He smiled. At least some of her people like me.

...I wonder why she never leaves the bed?

* * *

.. ... . .. ... t h e q u e s t i o n s . . .

* * *

Gerald stayed late again. He left the main lab and rode the lift up one level. There was an auxiliary testing centre called Chamber Three. The door was locked, and he was one of a dozen people in ARC to know the pass code. He entered. 

A while back, Gerald had done some serious thinking.

The mission, his main objective, here at the ARC Think Tank, was to keep a genetic scourge from wiping out a large majority of the population of planet Earth. A virus that was rapidly approaching epidemic levels. A virus that attacked otherwise healthy infants regardless of sex, ethnicity, social class, or living conditions. A virus whose only requirement was that the target be human.

Oh yes, they had done tests. Every species of animal on Earth had been resistant to the disease. Only the humans, the _homo sapiens_, the so-called "evolved life form," were affected in any way.

And so, the conundrum:

How to make a human, more than human?

The answer was deliciously simple:

Evolution.

Gerald Robotnik believed that evolution was a natural part of a species' development. In this case, however, he would have to give it a little scientific nudge in the right direction. Gene splicing had been on the radar of the scientific community for years now. It was nothing new, and Gerald had experimented with it himself a few times. But now was when he had to put those years of experimenting to the ultimate test. The test to save Man.

It was obvious there was something that humanity had lost along its way to the top of the evolutionary ladder, something the animals still possessed. His goal was to find what that _something_ was, find a way to replicate it, transfer it, allow it to be given to humans as a way to block the affects of the virus. It was logically referred to as "Project: Darwin."

His first tests had gone inconclusive, so he was forced to go the opposite route: bonding human DNA to the animals in an attempt to forge some kind of hybrid gene-chain, a mix of human and animal that would combine Man's higher-level thinking skills with the familiar traits and virus resistance of their furry friends.

Finding a way to facilitate this procedure had been a rocky road, at best. Simply injecting the stem cells may have worked, given time, but time was not something Gerald Robotnik had the luxury of. The key to that was in solar energy. Every five-year-old knows that the sun carries radiation within its life-giving rays, and that too much of the radiation will eventually give you cancer and fry your insides. Which was true.

The sun was the largest mass-energy generator accessible from Earth. It had more power than Mankind would ever imagine using, even though it was slowly burning itself out. Energy can always be manipulated. This was the basis of Charles Thorndyke's own research: creating a transference of relatively low-powered solar radiation into extra power, able to be harnessed and stored and used.

As Robotnik stepped into the lab he was greeted by his personal staff of scientists. He made sure there was at least five of them here, at all times, to monitor the experiments and keep nutrients flowing to the animals suspended in fluid tanks along one wall. Five tanks stood, each with an occupant, a representative of their species. He walked over to regard the one closest to the door. It held a hedgehog inside, larger than average, what with the genetic manipulation already performed on it. There were nutrient tubes and medical equipment and tethers connected to most parts of its body, sometimes _into_ its body, as the case required.

* * *

She opens herself to me. 

She asked me why I didn't wear clothes. I said I didn't know, possibly because I had fur instead.

She asked why she had to wear clothes, then. It's not like she was going anywhere. I said I didn't know.

Her small fingers come up, fumbling with each of the buttons of her blouse in turn. Her face is red.

She removes her shirt and pulls the covers quickly up to her neck. She smiles at me nervously. I smile back, not understanding her nervousness.

She beckons me to her, and I slide beneath the sheets again. She holds me, and I can feel her flesh unobstructed by fabric. She can feel the soft fur of my chest against her. She closes her eyes and smiles. I smile. It feels good.

* * *

"I don't have time for this. We need to do this now." 

"No, we don't," she growled. "What makes you think trying to destroy me will do you any good?"

"To prove that I _can_. You were created as I was. You are the only one able to withstand my attacks. You are my _equal_."

"And what's so bad about that?"

"I cannot _have_ equals! I am perfection, and perfection has no peers!"

"Perfection? More like an Olympus complex."

"...What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, go look it up."

* * *

They had hit a snag after that. 

Using modified solar radiation to promote growth in the subjects had been a marvellous, genius idea. But when the bodies were fully grown they still had no more awareness than they did in their unaltered forms. This angered Gerald, but he did not allow himself to be blinded by his anger. He began searching frantically for a sign...

And then something magical happened...

London exploded.

* * *

"...eyewitnesses are telling police that a gigantic meteor or asteroid has impacted northwest London..." 

It was the greatest disaster in the past five years. It quickly sent shockwaves around the world.

"...at least half the city is destroyed, death toll is being estimated in the millions..."

Gerald had seen it first on the news media, then had done his own research. The eyewitness reports said that the "asteroid" looked more like a mountain falling from the sky. It didn't fall from orbit, either, it merely appeared above the city like some kind of island floating about London, then fell like the city-sized rock it was. The damage was widespread and total.

"...emergency crews have arrived at the perimeter of the crater that used to be downtown London. Those lucky enough to be merely injured are being cared for..."

A special group arrived with the EMTs: an emergency dispatch from G.U.N, the Guard of the United Nations. They quickly put themselves in charge of the clean-up operation, managed the search and rescue, and discreetly captured those responsible for the disaster. Of course, everyone thought it was a natural disaster, so G.U.N. didn't have to broadcast their findings, especially concerning the nature of the suspects. As soon as Gerald heard he caught the next flight to the United States, using his status as a government employee to get into the holding facility.

When he reached the cell he was truly shocked and amazed. The individuals held inside were hybrids, crosses between human beings and animals, just as he was trying to duplicate with his research. After the initial shock had wore off, he requested blood samples be taken from each of them. Just because an event that no one completely understood had shaken the planet to its core, didn't mean he couldn't use it to his benefit.

Working on a project to an optimal ending was difficult. Starting from what you _know_, and trying to get to an invisible point you _didn't_, was damn near impossible. Having all of the pieces to fill in your own blanks, in the form of a syringe of fully-functional animal/hybrid DNA, helped immensely. And what's more: one of them was even a hedgehog! He could literally cut and paste the genetic sequence directly into one of his subjects!

In fact, that's precisely what he did.

* * *

I did my own research into my creation after I was freed from the lab. For all of the Master's strengths, he had no idea what he was doing with that blood sample. The hedgehog he had taken it from obviously wasn't from around here. He wasn't even from our time. 

I know now most of the intricacies of temporal displacement, "time travel," if you prefer layman's terms. I know that one of the most fundamental parts of displacing yourself is that you have to shield yourself from corruptions in the timeline, one of which occurs directly at the point of departure. Without that, any travelling you do would instantly result in your erasure from the continuum, creating a paradox that would unravel the fabric of the universes. Luckily, the act of temporal travel itself results in its own form of protection, which bonds a kind of "temporal energy" to your body that keeps you from screwing things up too badly.

What the doctor didn't know was that the blood sample was positively charged with that energy. And he injected it into me.

See where this is going, don't you?

In fact, the blood sample was irradiated with another form of energy as well, one that was nearly identical to the kind he had been "feeding" me and the other subjects for years. It would later come to be known as "Chaos energy".

So, in actuality, what the Master was going for happened. I was given awareness to meet, even surpass, that of the humans around me. My enhanced body was given an enhanced mind to match. And, thanks to the Chaos energy now coursing through my system, I had powers beyond anything they could ever imagine.

I was a god.

* * *

The only other problem with the project involved one of the holding tanks malfunctioning, causing the glass to break and the subject inside to become contaminated. They had quickly cleaned that up, though, and the experiment continued. What was the subject's species? Gerald thought it was the feline, but he didn't remember.

* * *

The glass in the tank had shattered as a result of being struck with a shard of debris from the island crashing into London. I know, physically impossible. But what I found relates back to temporal displacement. Obviously whatever event caused that massive chunk of planet Earth to end up in our time frame needed obscene amounts of energy to accomplish, and it was all released in one resounding burst. And when something explodes like that during time/space transit, the chunks of debris don't only get scattered in the physical plane, they get scattered in the temporal plane, too. For one of those stray chunks to careen back in time three days less than the rest of the event was virtually nothing. The fact that it careened through her holding tank and straight into Subject P4n02's skull must have been fate. 

And don't worry about her, I saved her from being tossed out into the garbage.

And no, she didn't appreciate it in the slightest.

* * *

Gerald slowly opened the door to his granddaughter's room and quietly entered. She was not yet asleep, despite the late hour, and stirred beneath the covers. "Grandfather?" 

He smiled. "Yes, Maria. I'm home."

She blinked her bright blue eyes and smiled back at him, resting her head back on the pillow.

"Now you are never awake when I get home from the lab," he chuckled, sitting in his familiar chair by the bedside. "Why are you now, hm?"

"I don't know," she answered quietly. "I felt like I should wait for you today."

"And I'm glad you did. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

"Oh? Who, grandfather?"

He gestured at the hedgehog standing beside the chair, about the height of a ten-year-old. He blinked in confusion at his surroundings, but looked in curiousity at the girl in the bed. "He is from the laboratory where I work," he explained to her. "I want you to spend some time with him."

Maria's eyes were large as she saw him, but she nodded quickly in enthusiasm. "I will, grandfather! He is most intriguing!"

He chuckled. "And I know how you have wanted a playmate for quite some time. I know it has been hard for you, having to spend all your time in this room."

Gerald coaxed the young hedgehog toward the bed, where Maria welcomed him with open arms. "You're so dark," she observed, running a hand down the spines on his back. "I shall call you... Opacus."

* * *

"I've had my share of pain, too, you know." 

She brushed the dark hair from her eyes and looked over at me contemptuously. "You don't say."

"I've had my loved one die in my arms. You can't say you know what that's like."

"True, I don't. But I've had my share of foul experiences."

"I don't want to hear them."

"I don't plan on telling you."

Then comes the awkward silence. I love awkward silences. I'm not sure why.

"Why don't you just walk away," she says quietly, her earlier fire having died down. "Leave me be."

"I told you why. You're in the way."

* * *

I'm covered in blood now. 

Some of it is mine. Some of it is theirs. Some of it is hers.

She's gone now. Maria. I've lost her.

I'm tearing at the body of the man who killed her. Vengeance.

He had died a long time ago, but I can't stop. My anger is still there. Not until my anger is gone.

Maria's room is covered in blood. Three of them had barged in about an hour ago. They had shouted something I didn't understand. Then they shot her. One bullet. That's all it took.

She looked over at me as she died. I saw the fear in her eyes, the fear of death. Then her light, the light in her eyes, those eyes I had stared into every night, was gone.

I'm not sure what happened next.

But all three of those men are dead now.

And I'm covered in blood.

* * *

Gerald ran through the hallways of ARC, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He had seen the G.U.N. patrol cruiser outside his home, and had quickly turned around and drove recklessly back to the lab. He knew what was happening. It was what he feared every night as he went to sleep. They had found out. 

He cursed himself for being so foolish and taking those blood samples. That must have been what tipped them off. It had to be. He had taken so many precautions for his work.

The lift ascended to level twenty-six, and he hurried to Chamber Three. He listened intently for voices, footsteps, anything to indicate that G.U.N. had found the place before he had a chance to destroy his research. Nothing.

He opened the door and ran inside.

"The government has discovered us. You know what you must do."

The five white coats nodded their understanding and set to work. The three tubes remaining along the wall needed to be drained of fluid, their subjects destroyed. All information, paperwork, datawork, and equipment, needed to be dismantled and destroyed. But there was one piece of technology that Gerald would not allow to be lost forever.

The solar energy converter.

That was the key to the entire project. He needed to save at least some piece of that. And the main controller for the device was merely a circuit board, easily disguisable as another piece of hardware entirely.

* * *

There's nothing left for me here. Maria is dead. The Master can no longer tell me what to do. 

I am Ultimate Power! I can control my own destiny!

I concentrate. My whole body is alive with energy. I can feel it calling to me, guiding me. I have the very power of Chaos flowing through my veins, and if I can control that, harness that, shape it to my will...

I feel a sickening lurch...

... And I leave.

* * *

Gerald huddled in the stairway, his hands in his pockets, his left holding tight to a circuitry board. He had called Charles Thorndyke on his mobile phone, asking him to meet him immediately. Gerald knew G.U.N. would be swarming Lab 52 by now, and his computer would be raped for information. Luckily, he did nothing directly related to Project: Darwin in that office, so they would find nothing... unless they somehow discovered Chamber Three's significance. 

"Gerald!" he whispered as he approached, ducking into the starwell. "By God, man, what have you done?"

"There is no time to explain, my friend," Gerald answered as he took the hardware out of his pocket. "I only ask that you take this and keep it safe. It is simple electronic hardware, they will not question you about it."

"Why? Gerald, I don't understand any of this. What's on this board that G.U.N. would hunt you down for?"

"Something... dangerous. Something that will change the future of mankind, for good. But it exists in a grey area of ethics, and for that I am targeted."

"Gerald, if this is unethical..."

"That will be for the history books to decide. I only know I must complete my work, if I survive through this incident. Here," he pulled a USB flash disk out of his coat pocket and handed it to Charles. "If I die, you may access the information on this disk. Not before. I do not wish you involved in this any more than you are now."

"I... I give you my word, friend. I ask no more questions."

"Thank you."

* * *

Doctor Gerald Robotnik was apprehended by G.U.N. Peacekeeping Forces on his way to Charles de Gaulle international airport. He was forced to stand trial for crimes of ethics, based on evidence taken from his work in genetic engineering and manipulation. He was found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison, without visitors or chance of parole. His work has been destroyed.

* * *

The product of his work, however, is alive and kicking. 

You want to know what happened next? I'll tell you, but you won't believe me.

Charles Thorndyke kept that circuit board, all right, right up until the soldiers came to question him. He was told to give up any information or items given to him by "the suspected." He knew he couldn't keep an extra circuit board a secret for long, so he gave them one. He thought it was the one Master had given him, but he had gotten it confused with the one he was using for his energy probe.

And when the Thorndyke Energy Conversion Device was launched into space the week after, it was controlled by a circuit board programmed to transfer solar energy into Chaos energy.

I watched the next thousand years pass from a distance. World War III wiped out the population, the world was sent back to the Stone Age, and planet Earth was bombarded by radiation that began a rapid evolution of the species left standing. For those of you still taking notes, this means animals.

An entirely new civilisation arose, one run by thinking, sentient animals, who begin to write their own history independent from Man.

So now the question:

Did Master fail after all?


	2. 02 of 02: Evolution

E0-Evolutionforum.doc  
Episode Zero  
Part 02 of 04: Evolution  
Started: 20050523 / 0832CST  
Finished: 20050527 / 1052CST

Sonic the Hedgehog: Neo Redux  
**Episode Zero**  
_Part 02 of 02:_  
Evolution

Written by Adam Czech

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, based on the worlds of Sonic the Hedgehog, originally created by Service Games, DiC Productions, Archie Publications, Egmont Fleetway Publications, and various lesser sources. This work is not to be sold, and is not intended for monetary profit. This document is not to be modified, or redistributed in any way without the author's consent.

The original material and characters in this story that do not draw from any other source, including information about the world based on Adam Czech's "Sonic the Hedgehog: Neo Redux," are copyright to Adam Czech (Antipode), and may only be used with his expressed consent.

This story is (c) 2005 the author.

* * *

I don't remember...

Jewel...

My name? Maybe.

The thing jammed in my forehead? Maybe.

Pain. It hurts. It hurts everywhere.

Why the pain?

Why...?

* * *

The glass tube shattered with a resounding crash. The five white coats in the room immediately went into action, scooping up the broken mutated body of the subject off the floor and into a containment box. One of the young scientists took the box into the back room and set it on a shelf, where without nutrients the body would soon shut down and they could dispose of it. He left back into the lab to assist his colleagues in mopping up the fluid on the floor and getting rid of the broken glass.

Death did not come easily. She pawed at the sides of the box, mewling in pain, kept alive by the radioactive shard of crystal lodged in her frontal lobe. The reaction within her body had begun, the same reaction that the scientists in the other room had been hoping for. But because it didn't happen to their specifications, they were unwilling to consider the possibility of success.

The minutes dragged on. She eventually quieted and fell asleep, her mind clouded with anguish.

He appeared in a dark flash of light, her saviour. He approached slowly, reaching out to open the box and lift her out. She shivered in his arms, and he held her closely. "I know where there are more like us," he whispered quietly to her. "You will be safe there."

A flash; they leave.

* * *

"I told you why. You're in the way."

That made me pause. He was in his "high-and-mighty" mindset again, the kind where the slightest thing would make him go off on me. "I know why you're upset... I know you don't think I do, but I do."

"I don't care what you know," he growled softly, trying to keep his anger in check. His red eyes narrowed. "I can't be what I was made to be unless I destroy you."

"Why must senseless pain and death be required for you to exist? How does that make sense?"

"Don't lecture me! I've made sure of this! It's what I've been looking my whole life for, and I'm sure this is it!"

"Well, then... your existence is pointless. You cannot kill me, Opacus."

That did it.

* * *

Never in his life had Charles Thorndyke seen such carnage.

He looked at the darkened nursery from the safety of the doorway, unwilling to take that step forward onto the gore-soaked carpeting. He had only been here a handful of times before, but he remembered that this was Gerald's granddaughter's room. When he had heard of Gerald's capture by G.U.N. he drove there as fast as he could, knowing that poor Maria could be in grave danger. He found evidence that Gerald's housekeeper had split, probably when she heard the approaching sirens of the G.U.N. Corps. He had opened the door to Maria's room hesitantly, fearing what he would find.

Four bodies. One of them was hers.

And the blood... there was blood everywhere, centred mostly around the three men closest to the door. They were dressed in G.U.N. military uniforms. It looked like a wild animal had ripped them apart.

_A wild animal...?_

Despite his nausea, Charles knelt down to examine the bodies. The gashes looked like they were made by blades, or claws. Maria's wounds were different, though. He stepped gingerly over a severed arm as he crossed the room.

A single blood spot, made by a bullet, at her left ribcage. "Oh, God..." If anything like this happened to his own grandson, Charles would be devastated. Gerald was in deep, he feared, and had been meddling something that he shouldn't have been messing with.

And Charles thought himself a fool not to have seen what it was.

* * *

I sit alone, in some dirty little hellhole beneath the notice of everyone but the vermin. The air is cold, and I'm wrapped in a tattered blanket I found somewhere. I stare into nothingness, my mind blank but for pain. The pain is constant. My only constant.

Some constant.

"Jewel."

I look up at the sound of my name, my eyes glazed over. There is a boy, standing at the entrance to my home. His face is dirty, is clothes more so. I know him... Don't I? His name is... His name...

Name... is...

"Jewel."

"What."

"We're all worried about you."

"Who are...?"

"All of us. The whole gang."

_Gang? What gang...?_

My facial expression must be blank enough to show him I don't understand. He nods. "We'll be out here when you're ready to talk."

"... Okay."

He leaves. I blink. Something must have happened.

I gesture; my bag comes to me. The movement is natural, as breathing. I take it from the air and open it. My books. They're important... I open the cover of the first volume, and read.

I read about me.

* * *

Darkness. Of the room, of the mind, of the soul. He stares into nothingness, the most brilliant scientific mind of the 21st century rotting away in prison.

Pathetic.

A dark flash of light announces his arrival. At first Gerald Robotnik doesn't even notice, then looks up slowly. "Opacus... you've come..."

The dark hedgehog scowls from the corner. "I need answers, Master."

"Of course, child, of course. What ails you?"

Obviously the fact that his genetic creation just suddenly appeared in a maximum security prison cell has escaped his senile and degrading notice. Opacus approaches slowly. "Where are the others like me?"

"Others? What others?"

"There's no one else? I'm the only one?"

"One like what?"

He ground his teeth and took a breath. Pathetic. "Your creations, you pitiful old man! How many of us did you make?"

"Make...? Oh, no others. You are the only one I was able to complete. All of my other subjects were failures. Abject failures..." He sighed sadly.

"So I _am_ the most powerful creature on the planet... Just as I suspected..."

And with that he left, and said no more.

* * *

I got up off the chunk of rubble fast enough to dodge the concentrated bolt of energy Opacus shot from his palm. It passed through the area where I was sitting on the ruins, and I adopted a defencive stance.

"I can destroy you!" he spat at me. "I _WILL _destroy you!"

"Brother, listen to yourself! You've fought me at least a half-dozen times before! Each time you leave me for dead, and I awaken!"

"I'll rip your head from your shoulders if I need to!"

"You're acting irrationally."

He snarled and thrusted his hands forward, casting twin bolts of energy at me. I dodged. His anger was clouding his accuracy.

"Don't you see?" I tried to reason. "The same energy that gives you mastery over time and space has given me the ultimate defence. No matter how damaged my body becomes, it will heal. We're _both_ ultimate life-forms!"

"_NEVER!_" he shrieked at me. "_I _will be perfection! You cannot take that from me!"

And some wonder why it's called "Chaos" energy.

* * *

I emerge from my hiding place, still wrapped in my blanket. At least now my mind is clear, and I know what's going on.

The boy from before, Jun, looks at me with bright blue, worrying, eyes. I give him an assuring smile, and he smiles back.

I feel a touch at my shoulder, and I turn to look. Keylen. My lover. He embraces me, and kisses me warmly. I know we are involved, but the feelings are not there. I kiss him back as best I can.

I have had other lovers, but every one of them have left me, in time. But Keylen is different. I'm sure of it.

"We had all thought you dead, lover," he whispers softly in my ear. "My heart stopped when I saw the fire."

"I'm all right," I answer, looking into his eyes. "I'm sorry to worry you."

He embraces me tightly again. I can taste his scent on his fur. "I'm just glad you're back with me."

I hold him, resting my chin against his shoulder. He is strong, and wild, and soft, to me. "What happened to the others?"

He pauses. I know what that means even before he speaks. "You were the only one."

* * *

He charged at me, fuelled by rage. Rage is such a useless weapon; it makes you stronger, surely, but it also makes you a hell of lot less accurate. I somersaulted over his head, then dropped into a roundhouse kick that knocked his legs out from under him. He rolled as he hit the ground, coming up a safe distance away and preparing to attack again. He may have had the benefit of a genius' arsenal of powers, but I had spent nearly every year of my life in this place honing my talent and training my body for fighting. Words could only get me so far, after all.

"Opacus! Brother! I beg you, stop this foolishness! No good can come of it, I promise you!"

His answer was an animalistic roar as he charged at me again, firing energy bolts from his hands. I spent a moment to concentrate on my inner strength, calling on the Chaos energies inside me and focusing them to my hands. They began to glow the colour of flame, and I rolled to the side and raked my charged claws against Opacus' side. Long gashes were gouged across his ribcage, the raw energy from my hands burning through his clothing and singing his fur. He growled in pain and staggered.

"First blood," I stated simply, my green eyes narrowed.

He gasped and fell to his knees, grabbing his side, blood spilling between his fingers. "You've been... training..."

I allowed myself to relax a bit. Only a bit. "Yes."

He licked his lips. "That will make this all the more enjoyable."

I gave him a kick to his ribs that sent him rolling over. "Don't be a fool. I'm not the little girl you remember anymore. I can kick your ass to Regeia and back, and don't think I won't."

And then he was gone. And then he was behind me. I felt a sharp pain in my back, and I cried out, falling forward several metres to my knees. He sneered down at me.

I spat blood onto the ground, and could smell something like burning flesh and fur. "Where the hell... did you learn that?"

"You're not the only one who's been training," he snarled.

* * *

"Chuck?"

Charles Thorndyke stirred in his chair. "Hm? Yes?"

"I said we're receiving telemetry from the probe."

He sat up straight in his chair and glanced at his computer screen. It showed the data being relayed back to Earth from the energy conversion probe. "Oh. Good."

"Everything all right, Chuck?" Neil Sanders asked from his desk beside Charles'.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Wandering, worrisome thoughts."

"Gerry?"

"Yeah."

"You two were pretty good buddies, weren't you?" he asked, tapping his pencil against his desk.

"I wouldn't go that fa... Well, yeah, I guess we were."

"It sucks what happened to him," Neil shook his head. "I mean, what the hell was he doing that G.U.N. would sit up and take notice?"

"I don't know..." Charles replied distractedly, his gaze falling on the USB drive that Gerald had given him the last time they saw each other, still sitting on his desk, beside his coffee mug and box of pencils.

He couldn't stand it anymore. He reached for the drive.

* * *

I sit on the edge of the bed, staring into the dark corner across the room. Keylen sits beside me and rubs my shoulders, and I purr and arch back into his grip. "You still seem so distracted," he whispers into my ear.

"Nearly dying will do that to you, Luv."

"Shh... time to put that behind us. You're with me now, that's all that matters."

"Mmm... I suppose it is."

I close my eyes as he reaches around to kiss me, softly. I feel him lowering me backwards to the bed, himself on top of me. I look up at him, his muted brown eyes smiling back at me. My voice is quiet, "I need to show you something..."

"You show me yours, I'll show you mine."

I almost laugh. I usually would. But not now. "Not that..."

He grows concerned. "Then what...?"

I reach between us and pull back my hair from above my eyes, the bangs that would normally conceal my "condition." His eyes grow wide as he sees the crystal lodged in my head.

"What... is that?"

"It's what keeps me alive."

"How...? Does it hurt?"

"All the time."

"What is it?"

"It's a Chaos Emerald, Keylen. I've had it since I was born."

"By god... but that's impossible! No one's seen a Chaos Emerald in 400 years. Nowadays they're just legends."

"But it is... I've read the legends, the old records. By all accounts, that's what this is. And it gives me powers, Keylen, powers like the Guardians have. I can't explain it, but... please don't let this come between us."

He's worried. I can tell this news has upset him. I try to get out from under him, but he holds me down. "This doesn't change anything between us, lover. I promise you."

He makes love to me, but I can taste his thoughts as he does. He's masking his feelings toward me. I know what he's going to do next.

* * *

"Three tanks! _THREE TANKS!_"

Power had been cut to Chamber Three several years ago, and no had stepped foot in it longer than that. But Opacus found it, after following the convoluted trail of breadcrumbs scattered about by his Master.

"He said there were five! Two are missing, where's the other one!"

He had discovered a bit of news that he was not taking well. "What happened to the _fourth one_! _Damn you, Robotnik!"_

* * *

"By God, Gerald, what have you gotten yourself mixed up in...?"

Images flashed across Charles Thorndyke's screen, data being accessed from Gerald Robotnik's pen-drive stuck in the front of Charles' computer. He read rapidly, trying to wrap his head around the reports and schematics that described what was called "Project: Darwin."

"Hybrid genetics? I knew you loved experimenting, friend, but this is too far!" he spoke as if addressing Gerald, though the room was empty. "Is it any wonder why G.U.N. captured you?"

The information was extraordinarily complete, though Charles could understand little of it, and it nearly made him tremble to know that what his friend was imprisoned for life for and what his young, innocent granddaughter was murdered for was now being drawn on his monitor. He had half a mind to destroy it right there, until he got to the most recent files on the disk.

A hedgehog, made to stand upright like a man, and as tall as a small child. A hedgehog possessing advanced reasoning skills and a supernormal immune system.

"The diseased cells have gone into remission," the report on the screen read. "Maria will soon be able to walk again, thanks to this one, whom she has named 'Opacus.'"

"Son of a bitch, he did it."

Opacus... could it be... Was he the one who had murdered those G.U.N. soldiers he had found so long ago? He still remembered it vividly, the sight of the blood, the eerie silence of Gerald's house that day. The smell.

So where was he now?

* * *

Block, parry, jab, dodge, kick, punch. Breathe.

I was started to get winded already. Opacus looked like he could keep going for hours.

I swore. He had been toying with me at the beginning. None of my attacks after that first were connecting at all. Now he fought like an ass, getting me to waste my energy so he could finish me off. And he could _teleport_, for some ungodly reason, and wasn't afraid to remind me of it every time I was about to hit him. He would blink behind me, knock me around and wait for me to get up again.

"Give it up," he hissed at me. "You're pathetic."

I watched the blood drip from my mouth as I panted at the ground on all fours. I refused to fall to him! I couldn't let this encounter end up exactly like every other. I was stronger than that now! I could beat him!

His laugh rang in my ears. My claws clenched into a fist, and I summoned the power of Chaos to my fingers. I snarled and jumped to my feet, thrusting my hand toward him and releasing all that energy into one quick _burst_. Opacus was thrown backwards, to slam solidly into a crumbling castle wall and slump to the grass.

* * *

They all regard me strangely now, and I know Keylen told them. I look to each of them in turn, and all those faces look back to me in fear and apprehension, even little Jun. I look at Keylen, whose face shows that same distrust. I blink slowly. "Keylen... you promised..."

"I'm sorry, Jewel."

I fight back the tears as I pick up my bag and walk away.

I wander until I find a tree, in a grassy meadow far from the city. I open my bag and take out my books, finding the ribbon at the most recent page and the pen strapped to the inside cover. I write slowly, the date, and then "You told Keylen your secret. Now it's over between you. Do what you always do: forget him, and move on."

I close the leather cover on my words. The tears come anew.

* * *

Charles sat in his desk chair, turning the small flash drive over in his fingers. He had, quite literally, the fate of the world in his hand. He knew about the coming plague, Gerald had told him about it frequently. In a handful of generations half the planet would be infected. Gerald Robotnik had found the cure, and had forfeited his life for it. Now that information had found its way into the fingers of Charles Thorndyke.

And what was he going to choose to do with it?

What could he do? After all, this cure was found using procedures the medical community had deemed unethical, _verboten_ was the word in Gerald's native language. He knew nothing of genetics, he couldn't very well duplicate the technology described on the disk himself. He also couldn't give the disk to anyone else without exposing himself as being "in league" with Gerald and getting himself locked up in a cell beside his old friend. And where would that get him?

But still... without the knowledge on this disk, whoever took up Gerald's responsibility would be starting at square one, and time was running out on the human race.

Charles put the disk down and rose from his chair. He needed a drink.

* * *

"Jewel!"

He was right on time, the stupid git. I raised my head from my meditation and smiled cheekily at Opacus as he stormed up the hill. "Well, well, look what my kindred dragged in."

He glared up at the pillar I was sitting on.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to show up. I sensed your mental energies focusing on me two days ago."

"So sorry to keep you waiting."

I sighed. "Here we are again, are we?"

"So it seems."

* * *

Charles snatched the disk off his desk and hurried to the garage. He had certainly spent enough time pondering. He knew what had to be done.

He threw the flash drive onto the workbench and grabbed a hammer.

"I'm sorry, friend. But this information is too dangerous."

He raised the weapon and brought it down.

* * *

I towered over him and glared. He scowled back and muttered, "Lucky shot."

I roared and kicked him hard in the jaw. His body spun a complete revolution before slamming back into the grass. "No more, Opacus! This is where I stop being your toy!"

He growled and rubbed his face. I hoped I broke something. Oh, I hoped to god I broke something.

He blinked behind me again, but I was ready. I kicked out backwards, fast enough to catch him off guard and deliver my boot into his gut. He grunted and doubled over, but still had enough composure to swipe at me. I felt his claws dig through my leg. I swung at him as I fell, my claws charged with psychic energy that threw him backwards as I cut into him.

I winced as I landed, my entire body on fire with pain, the fresh wounds in my leg screaming at me for attention. I craned my neck to look over at Opacus, who had fallen to the ground across the clearing and was not moving.

* * *

I awake with a start. Where am I?

I don't remember...

A word flashes in my mind... Jewel...

My name? Maybe.

Ow. The thing jammed in my forehead? Maybe.

Pain. It hurts. It hurts everywhere.

Why the pain?

Why...?

"Are you all right?"

I look up. There a man approaching the hill where I sit. He has a rugged tan face and is dressed in simple clothes. He's leading a pair of oxen up the hill. I blink. He repeats his hails.

"I'm... fine..."

"You look like you've been crying. Is everything okay?"

I touch my cheeks. Wet. I had been crying. Why was I crying?

"Do you have a place to go?"

"No."

"Well, come with me then. I can't stand to see a woman sitting all alone and crying."

I slowly stand and walk over to him, clutching my bag in my hand. I need to open it. There's something inside I need to read. But not here. I can't let him see.

He extends his hand. "My name's Jameson Wilde, my friends call me Jamie."

I take it. "Jewel, I think. Just Jewel."

* * *

I rose to my feet, hesitantly, limping over to where Opacus had fallen. He really clawed up my leg good, that would take some time to heal. His chest barely moves with laboured breathing. I knew I had to kill him. I had to.

I saw the flash of light a second before I felt the blast of energy that sent me sprawling across the battlefield. I struggled to my feet as soon as I landed, and looking up soon enough to see Opacus stalking toward me out of the dust, his fists glowing the dark red of charging energy. I scrambled to get away, but my bum leg made that harder than it should have been.

He grabbed me around the neck, taking a moment to savour his assured victory and sneering in my pained face. "This is where you die."

The epinephrine coursed through my veins as I called all the power and energy at my disposal to my aid. Opacus struck.

* * *

I've been with Jameson for several months now. I live with him, and help him tend his fields and livestock. It's a simple life, but much better than I've been used to. I kneel in the west field, tending to a small tomato stalk that hasn't grown as fast the others, and needs a little helping hand.

I feel a touch at my shoulder, and I turn to look. Jameson kneels beside me, smiling as he sees my work. He embraces me, and kisses me warmly. I kiss back softly, enjoying the moment.

I have had other lovers, but every one of them have left me, in time. But Jameson is different. I'm sure of it. I plan on telling him my secret tonight, the thing I've been keeping from all this time. I know he will understand.

* * *

Opacus hit the far wall with a resounding red splat. My energy drained, I collapsed to the grass and blacked out.

When I came to, he was still there, broken, bruised, and unmoving. I wiped the blood from my mouth as I limped over to his shattered body. It was such a pointless thing. I was not proud of what I had done, but I was pleased our constant battle was finally at its end. "You brought this upon yourself... _brother_."

And I turned and left those ruins on the hilltop, the way he left me behind so many other times in the past. I had finally beaten him. I had won.

* * *

I would certainly never claim to be an evolved life. I know that is what I was created to be, but that doesn't mean I am. I know that I'm such a broken individual, far from perfect. Just because I have special powers or Chaos-blood doesn't make me any greater of a person.

Those powers are a gift, to be used wisely, not the way Opacus had abused them. I'm special, perhaps, but not to be feared, not to be worshiped. To be accepted. That's all I want. I want to live in peace.

Why can't anyone see that?


	3. 03 of 02: Feedback

E0-Feedback.doc  
Episode Zero  
Part 03 of 04: Feedback  
Started: 20050523 / 0947CST  
Finished: 20050527 / 2100CST

Sonic the Hedgehog: Neo Redux  
**Episode Zero  
**_Part 03 of 02:  
_Feedback

Written by Adam Czech

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, based on the worlds of Sonic the Hedgehog, originally created by Service Games, DiC Productions, Archie Publications, Egmont Fleetway Publications, and various lesser sources. This work is not to be sold, and is not intended for monetary profit. This document is not to be modified, or redistributed in any way without the author's consent.

The original material and characters in this story that do not draw from any other source, including information about the world based on Adam Czech's "Sonic the Hedgehog: Neo Redux," are copyright to Adam Czech (Antipode), and may only be used with his expressed consent.

This story is (c) 2005 the author.

With apologies and respectto Douglas Adams.

* * *

"Any sign of him yet, Little Bro, over?" 

"Not yet, Sonic, over."

"Well, keep looking!"

The blue-and-silver blur of the _Tornado_ screamed along the ground at maximum speed, keeping no more than ten metres between it and the ground as it rounded hills and dove through depressions in the landscape of Angel Island. Its pilot, fifteen-year-old Miles "Tails" Prower, kept his hand on the flight stick and concentrated through the lenses of his aviation goggles. The voice of his mentor and idol, Sonic Takeshi, crackled through the intercom in his helmet. In the back seat of the two-seater plane, Amy Rose kept a close eye out for their sworn and dangerous enemy, Doctor Ivo Robotnik, better known among the freedom fighter circles as "the eggman," a sort of inside joke between Sonic and Tails that had gotten out of hand some time ago.

The freedom fighter network had picked up disturbingly high readings of energy coming from Angel Island a couple days prior, and since their old pal Knuckles was the current Guardian of the Master Emerald, Sonic, Tails, and Amy were sent out to investigate. Tails and Amy had dropped Sonic off on the shore of the floating island to meet Knuckles, then circled under and around to the other side. Every time Robotnik stepped foot here he would go straight to the Shrine Palace to get his grubby mitts on the M.E., and they were pretty sure this time would be no different. The plan was to launch a two-pronged offencive and flank him from both sides and take him unprepared.

"Oh my gosh, Miles, look!"

Amy pointed off the nose of the plane, and Tails looked to see a massive steel tower where the Shrine was supposed to be. It gleamed a metallic darkness in the darkness of dusk, and had the symbol of Robotnik's empire emblazoned on the front.

He tapped his intercom. "Sonic, we've made visual contact, over."

The hedgehog's voice came back. "Roger, Bro. Set down and make your way inside. We'll meet you there, over."

"Roger, over out."

He cut back power on the throttle and extended the landing gear, and i _Tornado /i _dropped to a short dive to set down gently in the grassy meadow. He shut down the engine and called behind him. "Ready to go, Emi?"

"Ready when you are, Miles," she replied, slapping a clip into her pistol and clicking the slide back. Tails readied his own gun and climbed out of the cockpit.

The Eggman's efficiency rating had severely plummeted the past couple of years; his new fortress lacked the trademark sinister, fear-inducing, odiousness of his previous domiciles. And there were no guards in sight, either.

Tails tapped his intercom. "Sonic, it looks like we've got a coast-clear. Should we go in, over?"

"Negative, Bro. Knux and I are about thirty seconds away. Just hold tight."

"Roger," he replied and knelt in the shrubbery. They were about a quarter-kilometre from the tower. "I guess we wait."

Twenty-five seconds later they heard the engine. Twenty-seven seconds later a cherry-red, '26 model, Stardust Speedster 8 with chrome details raced around the bend, heading straight for Robotnik's tower. The echidna behind the wheel and the hedgehog in the passenger seat both let out a whooping cry as they peeled past Tails' and Amy's hiding place, showing no signs of stopping.

The car squealed to a stop and both occupants jumped out. Sonic waved over at their bushes. "Hurry up, kids!"

Tails and Amy hustled to the tower as Sonic and Knuckles rushed inside. Curiously, they found their path unimpeded as the got to the core of the facility, where they knew from experience would be a command chamber, with Robotnik waiting for them. They were right.

The Eggman let out a throaty bellow as they kicked the door in. "You're too late, freedom fighters! I've already sapped the power of the Master Emerald to use in my _time machine_!"

"You'll never get away with this, Eggman!" Sonic posed and proclaimed.

"Time machine?" Amy asked. "Like what you gave Metal Sonic?"

Robotnik bellowed again. "Exactly right! Except this time on a much grander scale! And once I pull this lever all of Angel Island will be sent hurtling back in time, where you Mobians are so primitive I can easily enslave the lot of you! Ha ha haaa!"

"You better not pull that lever, Blubber-Butt!" Sonic warned.

"Oh ho, but I'm going to anyway!" Robotnik countered.

"No!"

"_Yes!_"

"You touch that control panel and so help me..."

"Too late!" Eggman giggled with glee and pounced on the lever. All five of them felt a sickening lurch as the ground beneath them gave way and the sky hit them on the head. Then the sky fell to pieces and rained around them, and the ground wondered what was going on up there. It went to look, and forgot to hold them up, and everyone began falling through an endless abyss. The ground then realised it had failed in its only logical property in life, gave a resounding "oh, bludger," and went all to pieces, same as the sky.

So the sky and ground fell in tandem with the five hapless time travellers, mostly in chunks. Not that the time travellers themselves fell in chunks, though they very well could have. But such a thing would have been dreadfully uncomfortable, and very messy, so for the sake of argument we'll assume they fell as one entity. Not to say that all five beings merged, heavens no, as many of the same arguments as above would apply in that instance as well.

Also, in the instant Robotnik pulled the lever, more energy than the Master Emerald had ever produced in the past was sent coursing through the soil and plants of the floating island. Having something as mechanically unsound as an island floating through the air is one thing, but infusing it with multiple times the energy that makes it operate is another entirely. The entire mass of the island failed under the stress of temporal velocity and shattered in such a spectacular display of force as to be seen from kilometres away, and for several years forward and back. (Exploding during temporal travel has the effect of ripples in a pond, except in addition to the ripples expanding outward in the physical plane, they expand outward in the temporal plane as well. Dreadful stuff, time travel, just nod and smile and move on.)

Perhaps predictable to all of the furries there, was that Eggman had either severely underestimated or severely mis-programmed his technology. For instead of sending them back to the Mobian Stone Age, it sent them back about 1000 years or so, before Mobian recorded history altogether. They were above a lighted city, with skyscrapers and historic buildings and the like. They were all unconscious by this time, as the trip was extremely taxing on the nerves, and a good thing as well, because they were a handful of kilometres above the surface of the planet, with neither ground to stand on nor parachute. Oh yes, and they were falling as well.

The rubble that used to be Angel Island fell right along with them, smashing into buildings and causing great damage and panic. How they survived the fall none of them would know until much later, but the ground was not friendly in the least. By the time they came to, they were in a dank, dark holding cell.

But that's a story for another time.


	4. 04 of 02: Consequence

E0-Consequence.doc  
Episode Zero  
Part 04 of 04: Consequence  
Started: 20050524 / 1000CST  
Finished: 20050524 / 1008CST

Sonic the Hedgehog: Neo Redux  
**Episode Zero  
**_Part 04 of 02:  
_Consequence

Written by Adam Czech

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, based on the worlds of Sonic the Hedgehog, originally created by Service Games, DiC Productions, Archie Publications, Egmont Fleetway Publications, and various lesser sources. This work is not to be sold, and is not intended for monetary profit. This document is not to be modified, or redistributed in any way without the author's consent.

The original material and characters in this story that do not draw from any other source, including information about the world based on Adam Czech's "Sonic the Hedgehog: Neo Redux," are copyright to Adam Czech (Antipode), and may only be used with his expressed consent.

This story is (c) 2005 the author.

* * *

She walks.

I hold her hand tightly as she takes a quivering step forward. The first time I have seen my darling Maria out of her bed, her legs trying to work after five years of dormancy.

Her foot plants firmly on the carpet of her bedroom, and she smiles over at me, proud in her accomplishment. I smile in return, and coax her on.

I have done it. I have done what no scientist on the planet has been able to accomplish. I have saved Maria's life. Not even Master, in all his intelligence, could have performed such a feat.

I grip her hand tightly, supportively, as she tries for another step. I shall take her away from all this, when she is ready. With my power, there is nothing we can't do, nowhere we can't go. I will show her the world she was forced to watch from her bedroom window for so long.

For my Maria deserves better.

A sound. I turn to look. The door bursts open. Men enter. Men with guns. They point the guns at us and shout something. I don't understand. What's happening? What is this?

They fire.


End file.
